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Chapter 3: And Travel On

Who shall conquer this worldand the world of death with all its gods?Who shall discoverthe shining way of the law?

You shall, even as the manwho seeks flowersfinds the most beautiful,the rarest.

Understand that the bodyis merely the foam of a wave,the shadow of a shadow.Snap the flower arrows of desireand then, unseen,escape the king of death.

And travel on.

Death overtakes the manwho gathers flowerswhen with distracted mind and thirsty senseshe searches vainly for happinessin the pleasures of the world.Death fetches him awayas a flood carries off a sleeping village.Death overcomes himwhen with distracted mind and thirsty senseshe gathers flowers.He will never have his fillof the pleasures of the world.

The bee gathers nectar from the flowerwithout marring its beauty or perfume.So let the master settle, and wander.

Look to your own faults,what you have done or left undone.Overlook the faults of others.

Like a lovely flower,bright but scentless,are the fine but empty wordsof the man who does not mean what he says.

Like a lovely flower,bright and fragrant,are the fine and truthful wordsof the man who means what he says.

Like garlands woven from a heap of flowers,fashion from your life as many good deeds.

God is not really the center of religious inquiry - death is. Without death there would have been no religion at all. It is death that makes man seek and search for the beyond, the deathless.

Death surrounds us like an ocean surrounding a small island. The island can be flooded any moment. The next moment may never come, tomorrow may never arrive. Animals are not religious for the simple reason that they are not aware of death. They cannot conceive of themselves dying, although they see other animals dying. It is a quantum leap from seeing somebody else dying to concluding that “I am also going to die.” Animals are not so alert, aware, to come to such a conclusion.